Quote of the Day: Thomas Jefferson
“And our own dear Monticello, where has nature spread so rich a mantle under the eye? mountains, forests, rocks rivers.
With what majesty do we there ride above the storms? How sublime to look down into the workhouse of nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain thunder, all fabricated at our feet?
And the glorious Sun, when rising as if out of a distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains, and giving life to all nature?”
-Jefferson to Maria Cowsay, 1786 (Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello)
I’ve been thinking about this quote as I’ve been noticing the garden bursting forth in fresh green leaves and colorful blooms this spring. Every morning when I head out to walk around the garden something new is blooming and a new plant is emerging. Here’s the rich mantle of my garden this past week.
What a wonderful time of year indeed after the long dark dull months of winter here in the North.
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The Sky is Falling
Last week I went over to my mom’s house to plant broccoli, kale and cauliflower in the garden. I also spent some time seeding a row of beets and mulching the overwintered leeks. We expanded the size of her garden this year, doubling it once again to have more space for things like sweet corn and sunflowers.
While I was out working the sky started to get dark. Then it started thundering. I finished what I was doing, grabbed my camera and seeds and headed indoors. Right about the time I got to the house it started pouring. I had planned on planting tomatoes and peppers that day as well, but the rain came before I could get them in the ground.
It’s actually a good thing I ran out of time because the storm was really bad. It poured and poured and then it started hailing. By the time it was over there was a layer of hail on the ground.
My tomatoes were outside, luckily, I noticed the hail I ran out and put them in the garage. They lost a few leaves but bounced back, what a tragedy it would be to lose all of my tomato and pepper seedlings! If I had planted them in the garden they would have been shredded. It’s a good things that brassicas are fairly tough plants so all of them survived. We think the beet seeds got washed away since none of them have sprouted yet.
Have you ever lost crops to hail or some other form of severe weather?
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Friday Favorite: Mr Chiots
This coming week Mr Chiots and I will be celebrating 13 years of wedded bliss. I figured it was the perfect time for an ode to Mr Chiots as part of my Friday Favorite series (of course he’s my all time favorite thing coming above every other thing that’s been listed as a Friday Favorite).
Mr Chiots and I met 17 years ago in Cincinnati our freshman year of college. We were acquaintances for 2 years before he got up the courage to ask me out. After many trips to the local ice cream stand we were married two years later a few weeks after we both graduated. The few years we lived in different places before finally ending up in Northeastern Ohio at Chiot’s Run in 2002.
Even though he doesn’t write articles, he’s a large part of this blog. I take photos and write, he takes care of all the coding, domain name and hosting issues for me – he’s the geek behind this blog. Whenever something’s not working properly he gets to work trying to figure out the problem. When I decided it would be great to be able to have slideshows of photos of our most recent vacation to share with you, he researches and comes back with the best option. He’s also always ready to come out and take a photo when I need him to.
Mr Chiots is very supportive and goes along with all my crazy ideas. He’s the resident handyman and day laborer, ready and willing to jump in whenever I have something that needs done. When I brought home maple spiles and decided to tap our maple trees, he grabbed the drill and got to work. When I decided that hoop houses would be perfect on the raised beds for winter gardening, he borrowed a pipe bender and got to work. When I found 55 gallon drums and wanted to collect rain water he designed and installed a fabulous system complete with pump.
Mr Chiots is also the resident barista a Chiot’s Run. Every morning and afternoon he hands me a cup of perfectly brewed espresso mixed with some steamed raw milk, a truly wonderful gift when you love coffee as much as I do!
Life certainly wouldn’t be the same at Chiot’s Run without Mr Chiots. He’s my better half, the love of my life, my best friend and a wonderful husband (the world’s best I think). The last thirteen years have been truly great – here’s to many more.
Who are you thankful for today?
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A Dream Come True
I’ve always loved boxwood hedges and have always dreamed of having one in my garden someday. I never knew quite where I would put it and the cost has always kept me from doing it, until now.
Yesterday afternoon the UPS man delivered seven ‘Wintergreen’ boxwoods and my dream of having a boxwood hedge will be a reality. I have two places I’m considering putting it. If I put it around my my Montmorency cherry I’ll have enough plants. I’m also considering placing in front that area that had the cover crop on it. This will become a large asparagus bed and I think a low box hedge would look really great with the asparagus ferns behind it.
‘Wintergreen’ boxwood (also known as Korean boxwood) is supposed to keep it’s green color better throughout the winter, which is a bonus here with our cold winters. It’s a more compact form for boxwood and can grow 3-4 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. It’s a slow growing plant, only growing 4-8 inches per year.
I can’t wait to get these planted. It will take years for them to mature into a nice hedge, but at least I’m finally getting my dream of a boxwood hedge in the garden.
What’s a garden dream you’ve always had?
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It’s Called Catmint for a Reason!
I have a large number of ‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint (Nepeta x fassennii ‘Walker’s Low’) in the garden. It’s a beautiful plant, so easy and carefree to grow. Contrary to what you might think, the name does not imply that it is a small plant, it’s named for a place in England. I have a few mature plants that are about 3 ft square each.
Catmint is a tough as nails. It takes just about any kind of soil but thrives in those dry areas where other plants might languish. ‘Walker’s Low’ doesn’t reseed so you don’t have to worry about invasiveness, although it’s very easy to propagate with cuttings if you want more plants. (from what I understand other varieties of catmint may reseed, but I don’t have any so I can’t say first hand if they do). This plant is also unpalatable to deer, which is a huge bonus here at Chiot’s Run.
This plant is also fabulous because it looks good all summer long. With a little pruning it will bloom from spring to frost. It’s carefree, bugs don’t bother it much, bees and other beneficials love it! The only pests that will bother your catmint plant are CATs! It’s called catmint for a reason. I find our outdoor cats sleeping in it all the time. Small branches are also brought in for the indoor cats as well, who spend hours rolling on them on the floor.
I like this plant so much I would love to acquire a few other versions of catmint like ‘Six Hills Giant’, ‘Dawn to Dusk’, and ‘Little Titch’ which is a dwarf variety that I think would make a fabulous ground cover.
Catmint isn’t just a pretty face in the garden, it’s an herb that can be used medicinally for a wide variety of ailments from arthritis to menstrual cramps. I dry a lot of it for tea as it’s calming, helping ease stress, anxiety and insomnia – it’s perfect for nighttime tea. Since it had natural antibiotic properties, it’s also said to help when you have the flu or a cold. I’ve also read that it can help with arthritis since it’s an anti-inflammatory. I mostly use it for evening teas along with chamomile and mint from the garden.
Do you grow catmint in your garden? Do you use it medicinally?
